Theater

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

—Albert Einstein

Theatre programs at Northside are designed for ALL students—those with no prioracting experience and those with previous training. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) serve as the backbone for all curriculum development in the Fine Arts.

Theatre Course offerings:

Middle School

Theatre, Grade 6

Theatre, Grade 7

Theatre, Grade 8

High School

Theatre I – IV

Technical Theatre I – IV

Theatre Production I - IV

Each course level is a series of instructional units and is an integral building block for more advanced work. Beginning in middle school, emphasis is on creative drama, curriculum and instruction in seventh and eighth grades begins to focus on interpretation and performance as students gain a deeper understanding of theatrical elements, principles, and conventions. Grades ninth – twelfth grades provide students with opportunities to develop and apply knowledge of theatrical elements, principles, conventions, and skills, such as acting, directing, and design. All students acquire the knowledge and skills to be successful in theatre through research, creative thinking, problem solving, and improvisation. Students work to understand and evaluate theatre performances, pursue theatre as an avocation, or study theatre at the college and/or professional levels.

UIL Young Filmmakers Contest

Taft Theatre is happy to announce that filmmakers, Kimberly Wilborn, Ian Mandt, and Jasmine Lee, have advanced to the state finals of the UIL Young Filmmakers Contest with their film Caroline. Their same film already received a National Qualifier rating at the Texas State Thespian Festival in November.

Caroline will be shown, with the other finalists, on February 18 at the Paramount Theater in Austin.

Below is a link to the film and a photo of the filmmakers.

Caroline is an average teenage girl who is struggling with the death of her father. This is the story of her redemption and her recovery.

Theatre Teacher is also a producer

O'connor Theatre Teacher, Vanessa Garcia spent most of her summer working as co-producer and costume designer on a short film. The film Squeezebox by Sam Lerma be making it's world premiere on February 25th as part of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center's 37th Annual Cinefestival, which is the longest running Latino Film Festival in the U.S!

Vanessa Garcia studied theatre at Texas State University- San Marcos and received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theatre with a teacher’s certification in 2007. She spent five years as a high school Theatre Director in San Antonio, where she created and built a theatre program from the ground up. It was there that she met David Davila (NYC blogger, playwright, compser). Garcia is a Co-founder of New York City’s Lone Star Theatre Company (a theatre designed to give voices to new and emerging Texas artists in New York City) along with Davila. Vanessa acted as a Literary Manager and Managing Director for Lone Star. In 2013 Vanessa served as an Asst. Stage Manager in Emily Comisar’s Track Twelve as part of the NYC Fringe Festival. Aside from working in the theatre, Vanessa is also active in the San Antonio Film community. She works with the annual San Antonio Film Festival where she oversees festival memberships and volunteers. Some of her film credits include Actor/Associate Producer on Lilia by Sam Lerma, Key Costumer on Wolf by Ya’ke Smith, and she recently served as a Co-Producer/Costume Designer on Sam Lerma's new film, Squeezebox

NISD Special Olympians were escorted into Gus Stadium during the week of March 23-26 for annual competition with the assistance of drumlines and brass bands from NISD high schools. Leading the way were the drumlines from Tom C. Clark HS and the brass band/percussion section from Earl Warren HS.

Folks MS band students ventured into the world of music composition, using FINALE software to generate final products consisting of a professional sheet of music and a CD recording of their compositions. Five band students received honorable mention for their music compositions in the annual district PTA REFLECTIONS CONTEST.